Cohiba Double Corona EL 2003

It's been a LONG time since I last bought cigars from New Zealand.  Far too long.  But the prices went up, and the shipping charges went up, and the discounters started making themselves irresistible.  That relationship died a hard and depressing death. But one thing about dealing with my friend there was that he always threw in several nice cigars for me to try, part thank you and part incentive to get me to help him move slow cargo.  Let's face it, the Cohiba Double Corona Edicion Limitada 2003 was an EXPENSIVE cigar.  Lots of people bought a box, but they either had a lot of money or went without a lot of things for a lot of months in order to afford such a box.  I think that brand new, they were about $650...maybe more.  Probably $750.  I have forgotten now.  But anyway, my good man on the loverly islands sent me a CDCEL03 as a treat with one of my orders.  That was at the end of 2003, so this cigar is about seven and a half years old now.  But I realized that I had been so lax in smoking lately that I was starting to lose the trust of the people who check in here daily or weekly looking for something new to read about.  So I thought, what better way to start up another string of blog entries than with arguably the best EL ever created.  I am not a fan of Double Coronas, I am not a fan of maduro wrapped havanas and I am definitely on record as being less than excited about ELs.  So this should be interesting.  The only drawback about smoking this cigar is THAT'S IT!.....there are no more to be had.  I must say, holding on to this smoke over the years has provided me with a real feeling of security.  When it was in my mahogany box, I HAD something special.  I had a cigar that only about 10% of avid havana smokers likely have.  Maybe many times less than that.  They had Dunhill Cabinettas and crusty old cigars not made since the 50's....I had a Cohiba Double Corona EL.  Once I burn it, I will be just like everybody else...well, much better looking, but mostly JUST like everybody else.   I still have a few 12 year old Cohiba Lanceros and a couple of Montecristo Double Corona ELs from 2001.  But my flagship will be a pile of ashes and a stinky butt.  BUT......in the end, what will I really lose.  I already HAVE a pile of ashes and a stinky butt NOW....in my love life and in my pants.  Tonight I pour a beer I have never had, and light a cigar I will never see again. 

I got home and decided against smoking that grand stick, I couldn' t give it proper attention.  But I pulled it out Saturday night, after the world failed to end, I figured it was a decent time to light up.

The cigar is not beautiful, wrapped in that EL wrapper that is a wrapper in name only.  I know it is "special", I know it is "flavorful", but it is not that great looking.  The wrapper comes from the corona leaves at the top of the plant, and specially aged.  The cigar clipped minimally and drew perfectly.  It lit without trouble.  The smoke was not exciting, as I had real anticipation of angels singing, etc.  It was good, but a bit sharp-metallic.  It killed a creaminess that was wanting to come to the front.  The smoke was laced with a slight, pleasant perfume element, and in the best possible way of thinking about that word.  Leathery, delicately floral with hints of vanilla.  The body is medium to medium-full and does not taste expensive.

The cigar gets better as it burns down, but I think it is fair at this point to remind the loyal following around here that I have NO kind of palate.  I do not taste nuance much, it's sad but true.  Really great cigars, to me, are just good.  I try to indicate when I think they are really good, but I am not going to be able to illuminate anyone and tell them how fantastic this smoke is.  It's really good.  There is not as much flavor change as I would like, but honestly, it is an old EL.  A lot of people who have had ELs at 5 years old tend to say, man, I wish I had smoked these when they were really delicious, at 3 years old.  But when you have an expensive cigar like this, which easily hangs with Behikes at it's current value, you tend to take care to smoke it without wasting it.  I would not say this cigar is wasted on me (it is, lol) but this is why I don't smoke a lot of ELs, because frankly I don't BUY a lot of em.  I went long on Dukes, and Magnum 48s, even Montecristo Sublimes.  But I think that's as far as I go from here on out. 

After 7 inches of huge smoke, real stomach-twisting power, and improving flavor all along the length of this super-cigar, I took the bands off, as they were up and down and sliding all around.  I gave the smoke a few puffs to make sure there was nothing hiding in there that would warrant a nubbing.  Ehh.  It was too harsh.  And that was my fault.  I had to really work this cigar to keep it going throughout the smoke.  It plain old went OUT 5 times while I was trying to smoke it.  EL wrapper, basically.  That much scraping and lighting and over-puffing tends to hurt a smoke.  But in terms of flavor experience, lots of coffee and a little cream,  musk, a slightly sweet floral character, with a good bit of cinammon hints and real vanilla character from time to time.  I needed to dry this smoke out for a few days and I did not.  Again, my fault.  I stated quite unequivocally that this cigar was gonna burn this weekend and I didn't do what I know was right.  But even with all the trouble, the cigar STARTS in the area of the 88-90 mark and wandered around between greatness and a great pain in the ass.  As revered as this cigar is, I can't go over 90 points.  There was just not enough true Cohiba greatness in there THAT I COULD TASTE.  Give me an 8 year old Esplendido, it would have kicked this cigar's butt down the street.  It was not past it's prime by any means, in fact I bet it needed to be held another 2-3 years and smoked by a true common sewer.  But in the life of this blog, I have to keep smoking, and smoking new and different cigars to entertain you all.  If that means I make a mistake now and again in judgement, that comes with the territory.

El Rey del Mundo Choix Supreme 2007

I have been wanting to smoke one of these for some time, but never got around to it.  I have had the cigar before, but these were new, and I was curious as to how they were acting.  I selected a hideous one and clipped it yesterday, but something, ah yes, the intense heat, kept me from lighting it indoors.  I had no intention of venting all my A/C air out the window.  But today, somehow, in the middle of May, a cold front blew through, and man was it cool.  I put a pork shoulder picnic on the smoker and messed around with that all day, and this evening sat down and had my first Westmalle Triple in a kind of a unique glass.

Ahhh, shameless self promotion at it's tastiest. 

So already clipped, I lit up the Choix Supreme and began the odyssey.  At first it was delicious, but without all of the richness of the cigars I remember.  This smoke was dry, like champagne, and although there was a fantastic aroma and a flavor of light coffee with barely any cream, the smoke was a bit linear in taste through the first inch.  It went very well with the ale, as they shared a light 'hoppiness' and a short finish.  The ale actually had a long finish, delicious and light while also heavy in flavor.  The cigar burned like some kind of Frankenstein, just all over the place, half burned tobacco left in the wake of the burn up to an inch or more, just absolutely confounding even efforts to re-light it.  The smoke was good, but the burn and overall experience was just awful.  The taste was good but not not as rich and creamy as most of the Choix Supremes you will run across over the course of your life.  Not bad, just not what I had hoped for this evening.  And on the heels of the highest score ever on my blog a few weeks back, I am about to give the LOWEST.  An embarassing 68 points. 

Cohiba Siglo IV 2006

Man, I have forgotten where this cigar came from, I think I got it a few years ago from a friend at a herf.   This is a corona gorda, literally a fat corona.  It is the same dimensions as the H. Upmann Manum 46 and the Punch Punch.  Generally speaking, about 5 and a half inches at 46 ring gauge.  This is probably the most popular vitola in the habanos smoking world, although that is entirely debatable.   Certainly as many or more like the petit coronas best.  Count me in the latter group.  It lit quite slowly and started out mild-medium in body. 

There were aromas of apple pie and the taste was a lot like a cinammon roll, a bit yeasty and notes of spices and nuts.  The cigar burned slowly but straight, and the draw was fine.  Approaching the middle of the smoke, the cigar became much stronger with deep leathery and spicy flavors with a little dark chocolate and coffee. 

Little hints of cheap wine popped in now and then, not that I have had a lot of that.  I am guessing a cross between mimeograph solution and grapes?  Once it got near the band, I popped the band off and began to smoke this one within an inch of the end.  It never went off like a lot of cigars do near the end of the smoke, so I couldn't see any reaason to stop.  One negative; it made me quite queasy as I got ready to let it go, indicating I was 2-3 puffs late in putting it to bed. 

This was not a great cigar, but it was very good.  Had I paid for it myself,  I would have been slightly disappointed.  It is not a cheap cigar.  But it never really distinguished itself, although it had certain flashes of brilliance.  If I was forced to rate it, I'd give it an 87.